The Morning After
by Lemonly
Summary: Harry catches Hermione on her Walk of Shame and it leads to an interesting revelation.


Hermione groaned as she attempted to sit up in the bed. Blinking she realized that there was an arm holding her tightly against another body. This realization made her eyes shoot open, especially since it was clear that she was pressed against a MALE body and that both of them were naked. She lifted his arm slightly and quickly moved the pillow to where she had been. Hermione quickly ran into the bathroom that had appeared as soon as she got out of the bed.

'_That answers the question of where I am,'_ She thought as she turned on the shower to full heat.

As she showered the memories of what had transpired the night before came floating back to her. It all started when she had lost a bet to Lavender and Parvati. She couldn't remember what the bet was, but due to her losing it, she had been dragged to a party in the Shirking Shack. She remembered drinking, and dancing, and drinking, and mingling, and more drinking. She remembered dancing with a guy who had stolen her away from her roommates. She remembered leaving with that guy and somehow managing to get up her without getting caught. She remembered things getting REALLY heated, and exactly how good it was… both times.

As she turned off the shower she tried to remember who he was. She was wrapping a towel around herself when realization hit her like an atomic bomb.

"No…" she told herself. Swallowing, she opened the bathroom door and immediately recognized the shocking blond hair of Draco Malfoy. She immediately closed the door. Looking at herself in the mirror, she whispered, "I slept with Draco Malfoy… TWICE!"

She reached for her clothes and realized she had left her clothes in the other room. Wrapping the towel tightly around her, she opened the door again and found Malfoy awake.

"I was wondering where you were." He said groggily. Seeing her wet hair, he added, "You should have woken me. It would have been nice to share a shower."

"Do you know where my clothes are?" Hermione demanded, looking around and trying to avoid looking at Malfoy as he wasn't even trying to cover himself up.

Draco stood up, pulled his boxers on, and helped her look.

Hermione groaned when, after ten minutes of searching, all she found was her cami she had been wearing under a tight fitting t-shirt, her short-shorts, and one of her black flats. Hermione turned and walked back into the bathroom and changed. Re-emerging, she grabbed her wand and spelled her hair dry.

"That's a good look for you." Malfoy smirked at her.

"Shut up." Hermione dead-panned, dreading the walk up to Gryffindor tower.

As if sensing this, Draco walked over to the chair Hermione had thrown his leather jacket onto shortly after they had arrived the previous night. Walking back over to her, he handed her his jacket.

"Thank you." Hermione replied softly as she slipped it on and zipped it up.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Hermione said, "I should probably go."

"Yeah," Draco cleared his throat and shook his head, clearing the thoughts that were cropping up and attempted to push down the fluttering feeling he had never experienced with a girl the morning after a hook-up.

"We were…safe…right?"

"Yeah, don't worry."

"Cool…good… Well, I'll see you later…"

With that, Hermione left the room of Requirement, breathing out a sigh of relief when she saw that the sun had only just risen. She hurriedly made her way up to Gryffindor tower, thankful that it was Saturday and everyone was sleeping in.

"Well, you look worse for wear." The Fat Lady observed when she saw Hermione.

Hermione glared and muttered the password, hurrying through the portrait hole praying that no one was awake.

"Hermione?" A voice from the couch asked groggily.

Hermione froze, wide-eyed, at the sound of the last person on Earth she had wanted to catch her on her Walk of Shame.

"Hey, Harry…" Hermione replied after a moment.

"What are you doing? Where were you? I stayed here all night. I was worried sick. And then Lavender and Parvati didn't come back with you. They said you left the party with Malfoy and I knew they were drunk, but you had me so worried." At the look on Hermione's face, Harry stopped, "You didn't really leave with Malfoy, did you?"

"I had a LOT to drink, Harry." Hermione replied, hoping her look of shame would cause Harry to temporally put his "big brother" rant on hold. Predictably, this did not help things… at all.

"WHAT!" Harry bellowed. At the look Hermione gave him, he lowered his voice, "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I promised Lavender and Parvati that I would let loose and have _fun_ with them for the first time. It's our last year here and, for the first time, I actually had time to spend with my roommates. We had a blast and, while it was a mistake, I had the best night of my life!"

"But it's MALFOY!"

By this point, the other seventh years had come down to see what was going on.

"Hermione, you little tart!" Lavender squealed as she and Parvati rushed over to her, "How was he?"

"Did he give you this jacket?" Parvati examined the jacket, "Lav, he gave her his Armani leather jacket."

"Oh, my God!"

"This totally wasn't just a one-time thing!"

"You're wrong," Hermione rolled her eyes at her roommates, the girls seeming to forget that the boys were there, "I could only find my shorts, cami, and one shoe."

"Yeah, and he didn't want anyone else to see what you've been hiding all these years." Lavender replied.

"More like he could tell how embarrassed I was and… That doesn't sound like Malfoy at all."

"I think you've earned the right to call him Draco." Parvati giggled as she and Lavender pulled Hermione up to their dorm.

"We aren't down here, Hermione!" Harry yelled after her.

"You are for now!" Lavender shot back, "We need to get the details."

"Wow… So, Hermione and Malfoy… Who would've guessed, right?" Seamus said after a moment.

"He slipped something to her; put a spell on her, something." Ron tried to find an explanation.

"She was drunk, Ron." Harry replied, "She was drunk and he took advantage of her."

"She wasn't _that_ drunk." Lavender said, coming down the stairs, "She wants to pretend that she was, but she wasn't. She did two and a half shots before she and Malfoy started talking and dancing. By the time they left, she was pretty much sober."

"GOD! I'm and IDIOT!" Hermione declaration was clearly heard.

A minute later, a now dressed Hermione ran down the stairs and out of the tower. She returned a moment later.

"Forgot the jacket." She told her roommates as she passed them.

After she had left again, this time the black Armani jacket in hand, the boys turned to Lavender and Parvati.

"Do you want to explain that?" Harry asked, giving the girls a look that usually got the answers he was looking for.

"Not really." Lavender replied.

After a minute of Harry still giving them that look, Parvati broke, "She's going to talk to Malfoy! We were talking while she was changing and she realized that she hadn't been as drunk as she originally thought and that she really did like him!"

"Like, _Like_ him, like him." Lavender smirked at the looks on Harry and Ron's face.

"She was so cute. She was gushing over how much he's changed, and how sweet he was, and how gentle he was with her—even though it wasn't her first time and she had told him that." Parvati sighed, "She's in love and she didn't even know it."

"But she knows it now, that's all that matters."

"She better thank us by making us the wedding planners."

"She's NOT marrying Malfoy." Harry objected, strongly.

"Oh, she very well could." Parvati nodded.

#$%^&*()_$%^&*()_#$%^&*()_+#$%^&*()_#%^&()_#$%&*()_#$%^&*()

Hermione made her way down the corridor toward one of the staircases when she saw Malfoy coming toward her, holding a bag.

When he spotted her, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her, worried that he was imagining her. She blushed as he took in the image of her in a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a perfectly fitted tank top.

He shook himself out of his trance-like state when she said, "I was just coming to see you."

"Yeah," he held the bag out to her, "I found the rest of your clothes."

"Thank you, that was one of my favorite bras," Hermione blushed scarlet when she realized what she had said, "Wow, sorry. You probably didn't want to know that."

"It's all cool." Draco nodded.

"Look, about last night—"

"It's cool. We can pretend it never happened…" Draco cut her off, a hurt look creeping into his eyes. He suddenly shot his head up, "We could do that, but it would KILL me. I tried to ignore the way you make me feel, Hermione. I really tried. But I had to give up on trying to ignore. Seeing you at that party last night, I wanted to tell you so bad and it hurt so much that you were drunk, so I didn't tell you. But I'm telling you now, I love you. And my family knows and my dad was pissed, but in the end he wants me to do what will make me happy and that's you. That has probably always been you. And I just wanted you to know that last night meant the world to me and if it never happens again, I'll be okay knowing that at least it happened."

"Draco..." Hermione let out a shaky breath. She swallowed the lump in her throat before saying, "I wasn't nearly as drunk as you thought. I wanted it just as much as you did. I like you, Draco; I think I always have. But Harry and Ron… they tend to drown out my own voice at times. You know? I'll be thinking about the way you make me feel and these two voices—who sound just like them—will start in on how you've treated me and other people until I can't hear my own self over them. But I'm not listening to them. My voice is finally going to be heard over them and I'm finally telling you. I think I might, possibly, be in love with you. I mean, how you were last night, truly solidified those feeling. You were kind, and sweet, and gentle, and the opposite of Victor, and it was remarkable.

"I think I love you, too, Hermione." Draco smiled at her, kissing her.

After a minute, they separated and Draco rested his forehead on hers, smiling at her. She smiled back at him, her own smile dancing in her eyes.

"I should probably head back. Harry caught me coming back and he wasn't very happy." Hermione whispered, not wanting to leave.

"Yeah, Blaise and Theo were demanding to know everything, not that they're actually going to get anything, but…"

"Oh! You're jacket!" Hermione held it out to him.

"Keep it." Draco smiled at her.

"Well, I better get going."

"You just said that."

"I really don't want to."

"Then let's not." Draco held his hand out to her, "Come on."

Hermione giggled as she took Draco's pre-offered hand and the new couple walked out of the castle and out onto the grounds.

"I believe, Severus, that you owe me five galleons." McGonagall smiled at the potions master as the two the Great Hall as the new couple walked past.

The Potions Master grudgingly handed over the money and professors headed their separate ways, smiles on both of their faces at seeing their favorite student happy with the other's favorite.


End file.
